Smallpox/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, is sitting up in his bed. He is wearing pajamas. His skin is covered with red dots, and he is scratching his arm. A robot, Moby, comes into the room. TIM:Argh! MOBY: Beep. Moby puts long athletic socks over each of Tim's hands. They stretch down his arms nearly to his elbows. TIM: Okay, that's just annoying. I know I'm not supposed to scratch these chicken pox, but they're really itchy. Can't you distract me or something? Moby hands Tim an envelope. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, What is smallpox? Is it like the chicken pox? Your friend, Summer. TIM: Smallpox is kind of like the chickenpox, only it's more serious. The virus we call smallpox can travel through the air and spread from one person to another very easily. An animation shows a cloud filled with the smallpox virus traveling through the air. TIM: A person with smallpox generally develops a high fever, muscle pain, and sometimes vomiting and then a rash of little red bumps. These symptoms can take their toll on the body, and smallpox can lead to death. Images show someone with a thermometer in his mouth, someone holding a sore arm, someone throwing up, an arm with a skin rash, and a face with a sad mouth and closed eyes. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah. Lots of people get the chickenpox, but virtually no one gets smallpox anymore. Many scientists believe that smallpox originated more than three thousand years ago in Africa, before spreading to India and China. A world map appears. Small images illustrate the spread of smallpox. TIM: The virus was so contagious that epidemics swept across continents, wiping out entire populations. Twenty or thirty percent of people infected with smallpox died, and the survivors were left with scars and often blinded. The areas with smallpox spread across Africa, India, and China. MOBY: Beep. Moby cowers on the floor next to Tim's bed. TIM: I know. It's a scary story, and a scary virus. But there's a happy ending. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, in seventeen-ninety-six, a doctor named Edward Jenner figured out how to successfully vaccinate a person against smallpox. An image shows Doctor Edward Jenner. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I'll tell you. He discovered that folks who have had a similar but much less serious disease called cowpox were immune to smallpox. He deliberately infected a test subject with cowpox. An outline of a human body appears and a cowpox germ. The germ enters the body. TIM: When the subject recovered, Jenner exposed him to smallpox. An image shows a smallpox germ trying to infect the same body but it bounces off. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, right? But it worked. The test subject stayed healthy, and an effective vaccine for smallpox was discovered. In nineteen-sixty-seven, the World Health Organization began a worldwide campaign to eradicate smallpox. That meant vaccinating people in all parts of the world. The vaccination plan worked, and the last natural case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in nineteen-seventy-seven. Success was announced in nineteen-eighty. An animated world map shows syringes filled with the vaccine being distributed by the World Health Organization and used all over the world. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. Smallpox was totally wiped out. Today, the only people who have to get vaccinated against smallpox are scientists who study it in specially protected labs. An image shows a scientist in a lab coat, holding a clipboard. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, there's been some talk that smallpox could be used as a biological weapon like anthrax was. I hope that never happens, but if it does, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta will do their darnedest to get the smallpox vaccine out to everybody as quickly as possible. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Hey, I haven't itched this whole time. Thanks, Moby. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I don't think robots can catch the chickenpox. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Robotpox? Look, just because there's cowpox… Moby raises his arms. They are covered with long athletic socks, like Tim's. TIM: Never mind.Category:BrainPOP Transcripts